My Children. My Opinions. My Tales.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Let Freedom Ring

While we spend the 4th with our families reflecting on our freedoms, I wanted to share an internet safety campaign that was launched, I believe last month, by the US Postal Service, Project Safe Childhood and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. After working at a state agency dealing with "children's issues," I am overly aware of the dangers out there, especially online. Don't get me wrong, the internet is a very useful tool providing many educational resources, but it is also used as a social networking tool that can lead children to providing too much information. These sites (i.e. MySpace and Facebook -- are very popular social networking sites) are polluted with child predators looking for naive children to prey on. We can't expect our children to make adult decisions. It is our obligation to be aware of what they are doing online and who they are talking to.

Prevention is the key to protecting our children from online predators. Last month was officially marked as "internet safety month," but we should always be diligent - year round, on making sure our children are safe. Please take the time to check out this website, www.2SMRT4U.com. They offer information for parents, who like me are unfamiliar with "common teen online terms." Who knew that P911 meant "parents coming," or PAW meant "parents are watching"? They offer other helpful information like how to talk to your child about being web smart, and many more tips for parents and children.

The definition of freedom is "having liberty or independence." Let's show our children how to enjoy our freedoms -- by being smart and safe.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

2 comments:

Jill said...

Oh that looks worth checking out! Hope you had a good fourth!!!!!

Carey said...

You too!